Episode 51 – 'Father Goose' & Cary Grant

Lani Gonzalez is back to discuss her favorite film star and his (un)surprisingly(?) charming 1964 film, Grant’s penultimate screen appearance, also his last starring role, and the willingness for the most debonair branded film-star to finally show silver hair, beard stubble, and an untucked shirt. Also:

• the juvenile delinquency of director Ralph Nelson;

• Oscar-winning writer Peter Stone’s varied career;

• Leslie Caron;

• her character’s curiosity for the taste of blood;

• and two recent Grant biographies, The Making of a Hollywood Legend by Mark Glancy (which Lani reviewed for Book & Film Globe) plus Scott Eyman’s A Brilliant Disguise (which I kinda skimmed).

And:

• Lani’s favorite theatrical screening of Grant’s Charade;

• trying to locate where the crop-duster sequence from North by Northwest would’ve taken place on IN-41;

• roles Grant turned down throughout his 40 years of commercial success;

• how his early vaudeville led him to master physical comedy;

• his wives;

• LSD;

• and Lani’s picks for Grant’s best, worst, and most underrated films.

Gonzalez writes about film for both Book and Film Globe and, alongside her husband (and former guest-host) AJ, their blog Cinema Then and Now.

Father Goose is currently available on the Criterion Channel under the banner of “Cary Grant Comedies.” But hurry quick, as it’s leaving February 28.

Episode 47 – 'Nothing Lasts Forever' & 'SNL' Cinema

Filmmaker Kyle Smith is back, along with first-time guest co-host and old friend of the show (and me), writer and performer Dustin Levell, to pick and talk one of Saturday Night Live’s founding filmmakers, Tom Schiller, his lone feature film, and its bizarre underground relegation. On this episode, we also discuss:

• Schiller’s self-description as a “foreign” director,

• how out of place this style is from SNL’s current formatted format,

• why SNL films are less about format than characters,

• and how truly amazing it is that a movie with these stars and filmmakers was shelved at the height of the comedy boom that SNL helped create.

Also:

• If this is or isn’t Lorne Michaels first produced narrative feature,

• is or isn’t the first “SNL movie,”

• what its failure to even secure a release might have done to Michaels other produced films,

• the relationship between him and Schiller,

• the filmmakers from Adam McKay to Christopher Guest that have sprung from SNL ranks,

• and outsiders who’ve made short films for the show such as Robert Altman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Breast, and Jim Jarmusch.

Kyle Smith is writer/director of the films Blue Highway and Turkey Bowl, which debuted at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival. Currently in development on his third feature, you can find Kyle and his film thoughts on Letterboxd.

Dustin Levell is a Chicago-based comedy writer, performer, and stage director.

Nothing Lasts Forever made its television premiere on Turner Classic Movies, which means it will hopefully air again in the future. Bootlegs are also available for purchase.